Polaroid
by Tiamath
Summary: A brief glimpse into the future of our favorite trio. Inspired by a friend's character. Warning, some characters mildly ooc rated for safety, mild undertones.


**Squad 7, Back Together Again!**

It was a reunion of sorts, that day. They met by the river, their old training ground; Kakashi grinned and jokingly dangled two bells in front of his former subordinates noses, and then grinned again as the bells promptly disappeared from his hand without a single jingle.

"Hah! You're getting slower, old man!" Naruto, grinning widely, held out one of the original bells; Sasuke smirked and silently held out the other.

"So, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura grinned as she accepted her 'bell' from Naruto's Kage-no-Bunshin, "Does this mean we _all_ get lunch?"

Kakashi pouted mockingly. "Well, now, I don't know. I only packed enough for two others…and our numbers seem to have increased slightly since last time." He winked at the two young teenagers standing behind his former team. "Yes, I'm not so sure I want to eat with such cough overconfident cough jonin. Perhaps these two much-more-respectful young genin would care to join their old godfather for lunch?" The copycat ninja blurred for a moment and then reappeared with his hands on the children's shoulders. "What do you think, you two? Should we ditch these old stuffed shirts and go have lunch? Ichiraku packed something special today."

Muteki shared a pained look with her friend Rae, and then glanced mischievously at her father. She bowed towards Kakashi, making a show of respect. "Why, what a wonderful idea, Godfather Kakashi. And so thoughtful, too, to remember that Father here hates Ramen…" Here Rae made a choking sound suspiciously like laughter… "and would have been too bored by our juvenile behavior to join us. Let us leave these important Jonin alone to discuss important Jonin things."

Naruto's eyes did not loose their mischievous twinkle but they bulged indignantly. "Whaaat? Why, you little vixen…!" Immediately, several hundred Kage Bunshins appeared out of nowhere, and with Naruto in the lead, commenced a Tickle Attack. "Deprive me of my Ramen? I don't think so!"

Sakura shook her head in amusement as she watched the antics of father and daughter. She blinked as Muteki suddenly produced a few Kage no Bunshin of her own. Well, that was certainly a new development…

Who would have thought, all those years ago, that Naruto would derail his dream of becoming Hokage for fatherhood? But then again…she glanced proudly at her own son, who at the moment was laughing and hiding from the army of tickling Kage Bunshins behind Kakashi. She understood his choice. She had felt the same way when she realized she was pregnant the first time; willing to give up any dream, for the chance of nurturing a new one. And she still felt that way. She spread her hands over her slightly rounded stomach and smiled.

"Sakura!" Sasuke's voice reached her over the din. "Can you give me a hand here?" Sakura turned around and gaped at the huge pile of food, most of it ramen-related, balanced precariously in Sasuke's arms. He was weaving his way through the writhing mass of tickling clones and had been doing very well, but his last dodge had caused the rickety mass to wobble dangerously. Now it threatened to collapse. She hurried to his aid.

"It's not that it's heavy, just unwieldy," Sasuke grunted as she snatched the majority of parcels from midair and left him to catch the last several pieces. Moving faster than a blur, he grabbed the last bundle just before it hit the ground and looked up, his eyes Sharingan-red.

Sakura eyed the pile in her arms suspiciously. It _wasn't_ heavy, not for her or Sasuke anyway, but she estimated that there was still enough food here to feed a good army of Chojis, with more than a few Narutos mixed in. "Why…no, never mind. Let me guess. Naruto?"

Sasuke sighed in resigned exasperation and nodded. "He insisted."

"Is he planning on maintaining all of those Kage Bunshins as he eats…?"

"Sakura, believe me when I say this: If Naruto tried that, there would not be enough food in the entire Fire Country to satisfy his hunger. But actually, a lot of this is for Muteki."

Sakura felt her jaw drop and she swiveled to look at the thin…_thin_…girlish figure behind her. Sasuke chuckled.

"She inherited it from Naruto, it seems…Oy, Kakashi! Where are we going to stop for lunch?"

Kakashi tried, unsuccessfully, to disentangle himself and Rae from the knot of clones surrounding him. "If we can get these two calmed down a bit, I was thinking of a nice little spot just up river. The ramen's already there."

Two hundred feet skidded to a halt. A hundred voices chorused, "Ramen?" And before you could finish saying "Ichiraku," the shadow clones popped out of existence, leaving a somewhat bedraggled and breathless ninja behind. Muteki took advantage of her father's preoccupation and jumped him with all five of her clones. They went down in a flurry of giggles, and eventually Muteki laughed so hard that she lost control of the jutsu. The clones evaporated. Naruto pinned her underneath him and tickled her mercilessly.

"Rae" Sakura started and then was forced to give up as giggles crescendoed over her voice. As they faded, she tried again. "Rae," she directed her son as he staggered out into the now open clearing from behind Kakashi, "Would you please grab our lunch basket for me?"

"Yes, ma'am!" The boy threw an enthusiastic, practiced salute and scampered off for the lunch basket, leaving Sakura to sigh and cast her eyes skyward. She loved her husband dearly and was proud that Rae looked up to his father so…but couldn't he convince the boy that it was all right to call her 'Mom?'

* * *

"Here we are!" Kakashi announced, dropping to the ground next to a steaming pile of Ichiraku's Best Ramen Bundles. There were significantly more than two, giving lie to his earlier proclamation and also giving an explanation as to why he had been so late for their meeting.

Sasuke noted with approval that the grassy bank was easily defensible and had several open lines for retreat. Sakura sighed with delight and drank in the beauty of the shady, flowered glade and glassy blue-hued water. The two children quite forgot that they were supposed to be twelve-going-on-thirteen and immediately sized up the shallow river as being the perfect place for a water fight…especially with Kakashi-jii-san, and, if they could manage it, their parents.

Naruto noticed the Ramen.

There were, quite literally, hundreds of varieties of the ambrosial stuff; Kakashi must have either emptied his bank account for this occasion, or called in a huge favor with Ichiraku. Naruto felt his mouth grow wet and his eyes grow wide and slightly feral. He moved forward, only to be brought up short by Kakashi, who had seen through Naruto's next move and had moved to intercept.

Ramen danced in Naruto's vision. "Old man, is that real?…" he whispered, not daring to remove his stare from the mouth-watering vision.

"Ah, Naruto." Kakashi drawled, purposely stepping directly into Naruto's line-of-sight. He hid his grin as the young man shifted ever so slightly so that the pile of gently steaming ramen boxes remained visible. "And what would it be that you want?"

"Kakashi, is that—could I—" He licked his lips nervously.

Kakashi motioned for the others to serve themselves and asked, "Well?" His half-lidded eyes betrayed his amusement.

Under Naruto's horrified gaze, the pile was diminishing. Only slightly, but still…

"Old man, please let me past!" he exclaimed urgently.

Kakashi hummed an off-key tune and stared off in the distance. "If you're looking to ask me something, you're not being very respectful."

Naruto blanched as Rae polished off his first serving and reached for a second. "Kakashi-sensei, please!…"

Kakashi made a show of pondering the request. "Well, that was better, but…" He glanced behind him and saw that everyone else had now managed to serve themselves. Scratching his head, he shrugged. "Well, okay. But don't call me Old Man any more!" His last words were a lost cause; as soon as he gave the go-ahead to Naruto, a blur sped by him and promptly dove at the pile of ramen. Kakashi watched with interest as his forward progress was halted by a unconcerned Sasuke, who yanked the young man back by the collar just before he landed on the pile, sat him down before it, and handed him a box and a pair of bamboo chopsticks. Sakura ignored the little drama and was listening with rapt attention to some story of Rae's; Muteki was sitting just a little ways off, listening to Rae's tale and occasionally adding her input.

Perhaps it was the way Muteki sat apart, slightly laconic and reserved, her head tilted to one side as she observed every little detail of her surroundings. It might have been the innocent enthusiasm and studiousness that clung to Rae like a cloak. But whatever the reason, Kakashi was suddenly struck by how extraordinarily similar these two were to the parents he had first met, so many years ago.

_Naruto may only have been teasing me, but he is right. I am getting to be the Old Man…and a new generation has begun._

_

* * *

The group sat on the riverbank watching the sun drop behind the trees, sated, content, and (thanks to the efforts of the children) saturated._

From his horizontal position on the riverbank, Kakashi spoke. "What a beautiful day."

The others looked at him in surprise. "Old Man…?" True, the day _was_ beautiful. But it seemed unusual for Kakashi to specifically remark on it.

"So beautiful," he murmured sleepily. "Someone should take a picture."

Rae spoke up tentatively. "It _is_ a beautiful sight, but none of us has a camera."

Kakashi lifted his head a little and opened one eye. "Is that so? Mores the pity." He let his head flop back and turned onto his side for a moment, then sat up, holding something. "Then, truthfully, I don't know what these are."

In his hands were two perfect, miniaturized Polaroid cameras. Two simultaneous intakes of breath were heard from Muteki and Rae and he raised his visible eyebrow. "Well?"

"Are those…" Rae started, his eyes wide.

"…for us?" Muteki finished. Neither child seemed to believe their eyes.

Sakura smiled and read the card Kakashi handed her. "'From a doting godfather to two wonderful and well-deserving Academy graduates—Congratulations!'"

Rae took his camera as though afraid it would break, or even worse, dissolve away into dreamland. Muteki was still limp with shock, so Kakashi took her hand and guided it to the present. As her hand touched it she came back to life and seized the camera with a fierce resolve. Joy shone through her eyes. "Oh, thank you, Kakashi-jii-san! Thank you!"

Having lived through both Naruto and Sakura, Kakashi was not completely unprepared for what happen next. He caught both young graduates neatly in his arms as they flung themselves into a group hug. "Hey, now, careful of those cameras."

After the excitement had died down a bit, Kakashi explained how to use the new cameras. "The most important thing to remember, both of you, is that these are not toys. They are the real, genuine article, the same as highly trained scouts use. It is important to treat them with _respect_, and it is important to use them _well_. That means," he continued, glaring at Naruto, who turned an indescribable shade of red and looked away, "NO attempting to see if they will work underwater, and absolutely NO photographic essays of the bathhouse." Seeing the stunned looks on the two kid's faces, he cleared his throat loudly and led the conversation in a different direction. Naruto could take his own sweet time explaining that one…"Having said that, though, there is no reason why you can't have fun with them. Photographic skills are a boon to a ninja, and the more pictures you take, the better you will become..."

_Fwash-poof!_

Kakashi blinked and waved his hand in front of his face. "…and I see you've already found the flash."

"Muteki, look!" Rae's voice rang out excitedly. "The picture's appearing on the paper!" Sure enough, a heavily overexposed image of Kakashi's best deer-in-the-headlights impression was forming on the blank card.

Soon, no-one's eyes were sacred, and as the first steps of twilight settled over the forest frequent brilliant flashes strobed out through the night, accompanied by the guileless laughter of those old enough to know better, and young enough not to care…

* * *

The sun was just setting as the happy group straggled out of the woods. Rae was still chatting animatedly with Kakashi, determined to master this wonderful new tool as quickly as possible. The two did not seem to notice that the other four hung back, reluctant to let the afternoon end.

Sakura stood in silence with her teammates and their daughter, watching as the sun slowly set over the river. In the distance she heard her husband's cheery hello; in the distance heard Rae's excited reply. But she ignored the familiar sounds for the moment. For now, she could almost pretend that she was a child again, off on a new and exciting mission with her team.

She glanced down at the notable exception to that thought and smiled, noticing that Muteki held her new camera cradled in her arms like a baby. The girl noticed her regard and spoke softly.

"You know, when cameras were first invented, back with the old daguerreotypes, people believed that when someone took your picture, they also took part of your soul. Many people refused to have their picture taken because of this. They were too afraid."

"But some people allowed their picture to be taken, even though they believed that it would steal a piece of their soul. Some people trusted those who would handle the photo so much that they didn't mind. And some people even felt that if they gave their picture to a friend, or a loved one, that it would bring them even closer together." The girl sighed and stared wistfully at the setting sun.

Naruto had been standing behind his daughter, a small frown furrowing his features. But now he smiled and stepped boldly up in front of her.

"Muteki, my dearest darling, would you do me the honour of posing for a photograph with me?" he asked formally, bowing before her. The girl's embarrassed blush was all the answer that he needed.

"Here," Sasuke said, moving forward, "let me."

"No," Sakura interrupted, gently divesting the camera from the last of the Uchiha blood, "Let me. You belong in this photo too, Sasuke."

The camera flashed, once, twice, three times, and the sun slipped below the horizon.

"Here, now," she said, and pressed one photo each into their palms. Then she leaned down and kissed Muteki on the cheek. Straightening, she gazed up at her two former teammates, and then pulled them, Sasuke protesting, into a group hug. "I'll miss you guys. Even though you'll be coming back soon, I'll still miss you guys." Her voice was muffled by Naruto's collar (why did they both have to be so tall?) but she knew they heard her. In fact, despite Sasuke's initial protests, Sakura was the one who eventually had to pull away.

Instinctively, they all glanced towards their children. Muteki had run off to show Rae, Lee, and Kakashi-jii-san the photo that Sakura had taken. "She's a beautiful little girl, intelligent and strong. Make sure you treat her well out there."

They had been walking towards the other group as they spoke and had nearly reached the crossroads that divided their path. Kakashi noticed this and started herding his group back towards his old pupils.

Sasuke smiled his slow smile and responded. "Don't worry. We intend to."

"That is, if she will let us!" Naruto quipped. He grew serious, and then, suddenly, flashed the 'good guy pose' as if they were kids again. "She'll be fine, I promise!"

Sakura's laughter still echoed as the two groups met.

* * *

There were no good-byes this time. They simply stood in the murky twilight and gazed at each other, memorizing features, storing up scent-memories for the long absence ahead. Then, as if the moment had been choreographed ahead of time, both little families turned in unison and began walking away down the different forks in the road. Within seconds, they had lost sight of each other in the murky gloom.

Sakura didn't realize she was shivering until she felt Lee's calming arm over her shoulders. "They'll be all right, Sakura. They have the skills of two of the legendary Sannin to protect themselves with. They'll be all right."

She gave him a rather watery smile before resting her head against his shoulder. "I know. I'm not worried about their physical prowess, Lee. I'm worried about… the world is a tough place. Unaccepting. I'm afraid for them…and especially for Muteki."

They were both surprised to hear Kakashi's low laugh from where he walked in front of them, carrying a tired Rae piggyback over his shoulders. "Sakura, your pregnancy is affecting your judgement. Have you ever known either Naruto or Sasuke to back down from a fight, physical or emotional? Of all the people of Konoha Village, they are the ones most likely to succeed in their chosen path." He gave a sharp nod to emphasis his faith.

"Now, as to Muteki. It will be hard on her, I know. But she is a strong girl, and she is surrounded by two of the world's greatest Sannin, both of whom love her very much. She will not only survive. She will prosper, you have my word as a Jonin...and as godfather of both her and your son!"

* * *

_**For further information about Muteki, her birth, and her continuing adventures, please check out http / skwurlluvr . deviantart . com /**_

_**For images regarding any OC's please check the galleries of either **_

_**Skwurlluvr or my own gallery, http / uvnote . deviantart . com /**_

_**Muteki is copyright of Skwurlluvr.**_

_**Rae is copyright me.**_

_**Any other character and/or place or setting belongs to those who own the Naruto Franchise—we're just borrowing them for a while.**_


End file.
